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Influence of processing parameters on disintegration of Chlorella cells in various types of homogenizers

  • Biotechnological Products and Process Engineering
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Abstract

The following bead mills used for disruption of the microalga Chlorella cells were tested: (1) Dyno-Mill ECM-Pilot, grinding chamber volume 1.5 L; KDL-Pilot A, chamber volume 1.4 L; KD 20 S, chamber volume 18.3 L; KD 25 S, chamber volume 26 L of Willy A. Bachofen, Basel, Switzerland, (2) LabStar LS 1, chamber volume 0.6 L of Netzsch, Selb, Germany, (3) MS 18, chamber volume 1.1 L of FrymaKoruma, Neuenburg, Germany. Amount of disrupted cells decreased with increasing Chlorella suspension feed rate and increased up to about 85% of the beads volume in the grinding chamber of the homogenizers. It also increased with agitator speed and number of passes of the algae suspension through the chamber. The optimum beads diameter was 0.3–0.5 mm in the homogenizers Dyno-Mill and LabStar LS 1 and 0.5–0.7 mm in the homogenizer MS 18. While the degree of the cell disruption decreased with increasing cell density in Dyno-Mill and LabStar, the cell disruption in the MS 18 increased. Depending on processing parameters, more than 90% of algae cells were disrupted by passing through the bead mills and bacteria count in algae suspension was reduced to about two orders.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the institutions in which the experiments were performed: Willy A. Bachofen AG Maschinenfabrik, Basel, Switzerland; Netzsch Feinmahltechnik, Selb, Germany; ProTech laboratory, Neuenburg, of the FrymaKoruma, Rheinfelden, Germany.

We also thank the Czech representatives of these institutions for valuable cooperation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Autotrophic Microorganisms, Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 379 81, Třeboň, Czech Republic

    J. Doucha & K. Lívanský

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  1. J. Doucha
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  2. K. Lívanský
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Correspondence to J. Doucha.

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Doucha, J., Lívanský, K. Influence of processing parameters on disintegration of Chlorella cells in various types of homogenizers. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 81, 431–440 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1660-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-008-1660-6

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